One Day to Live a Lifetime: The Story of a Melancholy Shinigami
by Jessaminebell
Summary: A story of a certain rebellious Shinigami finding a misused Death Bookmark. Hundreds of years before, an unknown Shinigami paused the life of a human, ceasing her clock from ticking. With the bookmark removed, Ronald is given the task to reap her soul. Just how much overtime does Will expect him to complete?
1. Chapter 1

_ There is truly nothing that can be done. No matter the struggle I put, our paths would only fray and disintegrate.._

With strong hands, the Shinigami held the old book open. The carefully written words lined the pages; pages that he had read many times over. His fingers trailed upon the fresh ink writing cruel verbs and sick adjectives. His sigh could be seen in hopeless green eyes.

_So..._

He placed the small slip of paper into the thick book. In an instant, the phantomesque words ceased. They were frozen in a time forever separate from any other. The last hanging words of the sentence disappeared as the man closed the book.

This melancholy Shinigami placed the book among the others on the shelf. He trailed sentimental fingers across the spine. Finally, he let go. The man turned his head, hoping to eventually forget the taboo he had just committed.

_So... I will not struggle. Nor will I allow you. _

_ Sleep._

* * *

Reckless steps sounded across the library floor. As always, a bounce was in this young Shinigami's feet.

"Don't forget about our date!" A woman's voice did not cease the worker's steps. He turned to a backward walk in order to better face the girl. Though she was in the distance, he found the need for a wink and smirk.

"I wouldn't dream of it, love! Even overtime wouldn't stop me!" Ronald Knox laughed heartily at his own words. He was well-known for his hatred of overtime work. He wasn't going to be the one staying late when a party could be starting.

He turned back towards the book shelf situated in the middle of the floor. With a quick scan of the many of hundreds of books, he let out an annoyed groan. His smirk left him.

"And Will wants me to find exactly what?"

Wasting no time, the Shinigami stretched his legs towards the top shelf. Even with his tipped-toes, he was feet away from his desired spot. His hand barely touched the shelf right below the book his superior had requested. He glared to it with a certain animosity and hatred.

An idea rather particular to the boy came to his mind. He reared his hand back to the Death Scythe left forgotten behind him. With quick steps, Ronald hopped to the handlebars of his lawnmower. The piece wobbled slightly with his weight, but for the moment, it seemed as though it would hold.

Ronald turned his sights back to the book in the distance. His clenched teeth and determined green eyes focused with the precision of a scope.

Finally, with the piece in sight, Ronald was able to latch a glove-covered hand around the spine. A slight smirk of achievement spread to his lips as he began to pull on the book. Oddly enough, the wad of paper was stuck in the middle of the wide array of lives. Even with a quick pull, it seemed quite stuck. The smile was erased from the Shinigami's face as he restarted his efforts. Another hand settled on the shelf to allow more leverage. With a slight sigh, Ronald pulled as hard as his body could allow him.

"AHH-" His recklessness and unbalance of his Death Scythe resulted in his body swaying back. Despite this, the air-borne man now held the desired book in his hand. Now it was time for his least favorite part-hitting the ground.

A thick slam to the smooth ground knocked all air out of the Shinigami's lungs, as well as his glasses off of his face. The device bounced several feet away, settling upside down and hopefully not cracked.

Ronald let go of the book he held to rub his now throbbing head. The blurriness of the world didn't hurt help his annoyance, either. He sat up with clenched teeth and a bumped skull.

"Damn.." Despite his words, he reached across to his frames. With a quick inspection, he realized no harm had come to them. Ronald was able to see the world once again in no time. His sights turned towards an even worse sight.

"Ughh.." He groaned at the fallen stack of books now sitting on his lawnmower. Various pages were opened and the writing ink smeared across the pages. He sure hoped that wasn't a bad sign. He approached the pile with a scowl.

_No one'll know if I just put them back. _

Ronald picked through the pieces of paper, stacking them neatly next to him. His frown was just about to deepen when a rather odd sight caught his eye. The young man bent down to a lone book, green eyes focused on the familiar piece of paper sticking out.

"A Death bookmark?" He had barely seen any of the slips of paper. Only once had they been shown, and that was just during his orientation. Not the most exciting day, so he didn't really recognize the bookmark until now. His fingers flipped the book open to the bookmarked page.

_She sat alone in the basement, hands tied and mouth gagged. Noises of rats scurried by her and whiskers trailed along her almost naked flesh. Her shivers of the cold night were her only movement, as she was tired beyond belief. For the first time in her life, she was utterly and hopelessly alone. _

Ronald closed the book back to it's cover.  
_Lottie Margaret Sinnet_ _1872-_

Ronald's eyes widened slightly at the date on the cover and lack of death date.

_Someone has bookmarked her for nearly one hundred years!_

The young Shinigami felt a sense of responsibility, since he had indeed been the one to knock the book from it's position. There was also the matter with the bookmark. It seemed as though this soul had never been reaped, as the life had been paused. Showing Will would most likely put the man in a horrible mood. The guy was never a bucket full of sunshine in the first place, anyway. Ronald couldn't imagine him any worse than he usually was.

With a final sigh, the dark blonde boy swept his feet away from the bookcase. He dropped the unfinished book onto the death scythe he took hold of. It acted as a sort of library cart, the shinigami pushing it being the disgruntled worker.

"No way am I going to get overtime for this."

* * *

"Yo, Will!" A familiar voice alerted the senior Shinigami of a fast-approaching troublesome teen. William Spears let out a sigh before dropping his papers.

"Yes?" He asked with a rather annoyed tone. The young spirit never truly knew when to tone down his voice or overwhelming presence.

William turned to face Ronald with unimpressed eyes.

"Do you have the book I asked you to fetch?" He wished Ronald could at least be good to the word he had spoken so many minutes ago.

"Yeah, but I found something else when I was getting it." He tossed the bookmarked book to his boss. William's pin-point eyes looked to the pages of the book he snapped open. He scanned over the paused words, looking to the book mark and uttering a simple, "Oh."

"Yeah, it kinda fell off the shelf with a bunch of others. Shouldn't her soul have already been reaped? I mean, it's been nearly one hundred years since her scheduled death." Ronald stated plainly as his eyes glanced over the pristine walls of William's office. He didn't often come into the spacious room. The extreme cleanliness of everything was a little much to look at.

William's tough expression softened for just a moment. With a quick hand, he removed the bookmark from the page. The words resumed from their sentence with a quick pace that almost hinted they had never been stopped. He snapped the pages back out of view before handing the book to his subordinate.

"Yes, they should have. That's why you're going to go do it now. Find the girl and bring her soul back with you." With those words, Will turned back to his previous papers with a new bookmark in hand. He ignored the shocked expression appearing to Ronald's face.

"But I'm not due for any fieldwork this week! My paper's even all done-"

"Then you shouldn't have anything to get in your way. Get the soul, Ronald Knox." The cold eyes shot back to tell the Shinigami this was not a matter that they would be discussing. He let out a final sigh before turning towards the door. Ronald towed his Death Scythe out of the room, kicking it to his shoulder upon entering the hallway. His eyes looked to the book.

"Lottie Sinnet... No matter what you happen to look like, I won't let you get me get stuck in overtime."


	2. Chapter 2

The hustle and bustle of the modern city rushed past the young shinigami. The London from so many years had vanished, leaving an annoyingly busy and loud predecessor. He only wished the times of horses and carriages could be brought back. Perhaps a world disaster would knock the entire planet back to the simpler times. He could only hope.

Ronald looked to his book, eyes skimming across the writing words.

* * *

_Her ropes were worn away, allowing the girl to free herself. She struggled to the surface, hazel eyes adjusting to the intense afternoon rays of the sun. She looked around, seeing nothing but a large expanse of land. Even the basement she had called her prison now stood in shambles, threatening to fall with a harsh breeze. He__r__ world had changed so quickly in an instant._

* * *

"So she's farther out in the country. Bloody good." Ronald talked to himself with a harsh sarcasm. His date would probably have to be canceled. It wasn't as though he had been involved with the girl from accounting for very long, though. She was a bore anyway.

A moving pair of girls walked past him, brown hair fluttering in the warm breeze. They smiled to him, his eyes offering a flirty allure as well.

_Thirtieth of August at 2:12 PM 1977. Overdose. _His pupils flitted towards the girl walking in the high heels directly next to her. He flashed a sad smile.

_Fourth of February at 12:00 AM. 1982. Suicide after birth of premature child. _  
There were times when he truly disliked his job. Perhaps one of those was when he looked to the ones still alive, seeing only their death dates rather than their faces. The sad fates awaiting those could never be avoided, he knew, but that fact did not make him any less discouraged.

The pair of beautiful brunettes giggled to one another before striding away. Ronald's smile disappeared as he eyed the high-heeled one. His thoughts still kept to that of her deathly assumption made many years in the future.

"He lives until his early seventies." Ronald breathed out the words, sighing.

_But he'll never know his mother. _

He turned his back, realizing too much time had been wasted with petty deaths that would be many years yet.

_I'll be back for you two later._

* * *

_ Now where the hell could she have gone off to? _Ronald reached for Lottie's book once again as he reached the location it had described.

The vast open space of land was bathed in an afternoon sunlight that highlighted each individual piece of wild grass. His green eyes skimmed across the crumbling house for a moment before his fingers reached the latest page of the text. He read the words with indifference.

_…__each strand was bathed in the warm afternoon sunlight that touched her skin. She looked over, realizing she was no longer alone on the plain. The girl reached out a hand to strange man holding a rather large book. _

"Excuse me?" The voice of a young teen interrupted any thoughts held to Ronald's mind. He turned to his back, eyes locking with a gentle hazel.

The gentle breeze of the afternoon wind ran its fingers through thick brown hair, whipping the strands into the air and working out any loose knots. Her small body sat several inches below him, making the girl only able to make eye contact by pointing her soft hazel eyes upwards. She didn't seem afraid to lock eyes with him, but the Ronald found it quite difficult to glance away from the various strips of skin revealed to the air across her dress. It was torn-up heavily, some spots even having fresh blood still staining the cloth. Rope marks were across her pale skin, showing all that she had been in custody of rather rough individuals.

"Sir?" Lottie Sinnet's eyes drifted up and down Ronald, a small smile coming to her lips.

"I'm sorry to trouble you, but I'm very turned around. I'm not exactly sure where I am. Are you, by chance, in acquaintance with Liam?" Her sweet voice seemed so confused that Ronald's sympathy overwhelmed him.

"No, I don't know any Liams. Ah, yes, we're in London. The outskirts, anyway." His eyes looked back to the beauty of a girl standing in front of him. She glanced around, eyes blinking several times.

"Really? The whole world looks so changed, and in only a blink of the eye." She looked down to her rope-burned wrists.

"I got myself into a little situation a few days ago, and I found myself in ropes. But the ropes that were around my wrists fell off, almost as if they had disintegrated. I don't understand what's going on. I need to find Liam." Her bare feet went to leave, yet a quick arm wrapped around her elbow. She shot eyes back to Ronald.

"What are you doing? Let me go!" She struggled against his grip, yet he would not retract it.

"I don't think you're going to be able to find this Liam person." Ronald's plain-stated answer sent frenzy to the hazel just in front of him. Lottie's struggle stopped, as well as her mouth. A free hand covered her mouth as though she might hurl.

"What? And why not?"

Ronald let out a rather annoyed sigh for having to explain such a simple concept. Her ignorance may not have been her fault, but it didn't make it any less annoying for him. So he decided to state it as plainly as he could, with no emotion like he was always taught.

"He's dead. Everyone you know is gone."

Weren't these words supposed to make him feel something? Why was it that they just made him more empty inside?

"What..?"

She put so much trust in a stranger's answer, but Ronald knew his statement was true. Anyone born in the girl's time was long dead, and she was meant to be.

"You're looking at the countryside of London, one hundred years in the future, Lottie Margaret Sinnet."


	3. Chapter 3

He felt the urge to glance around with her, basking in his overtime. Perhaps if he could cut down on this time he could still make his date. It was all wishful thinking, anyway.

Lottie's eyes went wide.

"What..? How is that possible? How could you know this much? Who are you?" She was full of so many questions, and to be quite frank, they were questions that he didn't care much to answer in detail.

Ronald held out a hand, counting off his answers to the many questions she had asked.

"You were paused in time by some dim-wit who perhaps fancied you just a bit too much; I know this because it's my job to make up for his shit mistake; I'm Ronald, Ronald Knox. But you can call me Ron, sweetheart. Alright, that just about wraps this up. Can we go now?" He lowered his hand, eyes narrowing to her in boredom. Sure, she was pretty, but not someone he could see someone breaking the rules for.  
Lottie took a step back.

"Go where?"

_God damn it. _Ronald exhaled heavily.

"You sure love questions don't you, sweetheart? Where do you suppose we're going? You were supposed to die so many years ago, and it's my job to make up for the mistake someone else made. In other words-"

"You're going to kill me." Lottie finished, her expression of shock never fading.

Ronald snapped at her, pointing with his long index finger.

"Exactly. Now if you'll just make my job eas-"

"Wait."

The machinery this shinigami had pulled out was being eyed quite heavily by Lottie. She stared at it with a certain discomfort.

"Is that... Your Death Scythe?" She had to ask.

Ronald widened his eyes just a bit in her guess.

"Yes, love. Now where did you hear that bit of info fro-"

"I have one request before you.. Before you kill me." She interrupted him quite hastily, ignoring his sharpening concentration. She was just another job to him, wasn't she? Didn't he at all think it was unfair what happened to her? Not in the slightest?

Ron leaned against his scythe, eyes narrowing in the summer heat.

"A request? You do realize we're not exactly up to suggestions, right? Alright, I'll hear it, I guess." Did she actually think she could cheat the death she should have had? He was just doing his job, and who was she to stop him?

Lotttie gathered a few strips of tattered cloth from her dress. She played with the pieces, not touching Ronald with her sad gaze.

"I was... The life I could have lived was taken from me. I never had my chance to... To get married, to raise a family, or to even see Liam again. I don't think that's.. I don't think that's fair..." A liquid so usual to this job trailed down Lottie's cheeks. Ronald simply watched on with the same indifference to his eyes.

Lotttie wiped her cheeks, clearing some dirt from the porcelain-like whiteness.

"I know you'll never let me keep living my life. A rule is a rule, and I should have died so many years ago, but I didn't. I'm still alive, but everyone else I knew is dead. I only want one thing.." She looked up, a smile touching her pink lips.

"One day. I only want you to give me one day of the life I could have lived. That's all. It can even be just the rest of this day. It's not long, I know, and it wouldn't make a difference to anything, but please..." She sniffed, lowering her head once again.

"Everything was taken from me because of what he did, so I think I deserve at least... At least one day to live my stolen life..." Hazel eyes looked down to the dirt ground that loomed heavily in her near future. Was it cold? What _was_ death like? Could he explain it? Or did he just collect the souls, no questions asked? Perhaps it would be better to stop asking him of anything.

Ronald let out a small sigh, reflecting on how he seemed to be doing so quite often. He once again glanced around the countryside, marveling in the fact that in her perspective, perhaps it felt like only yesterday that she was hand-washing clothes or tending the fields. Then again, she didn't seem like a girl accustomed to manual labor. Maybe the Liam person she kept talking of took care of her, only seeing her compassionate hazel eyes or her silky brown hair.

"Rules are rules, love. Even if your life hadn't been paused, you would have died that day, no talking, no bargaining."

These words had Lottie's head snapping up in confusion.

"I... What?"

Ronald nodded in agreement. He straightened his glasses, focusing on the woman.

"The men who kidnapped you would have killed you when they finished with you, but that could never happen. In their perspective it did, but you never experienced it. According to the morgue, you have a crumbling grave with your body in it. I suppose it would be empty now because I took out the bookmark in your book. Their lives continued on as if you had still existed, but for you..." He let these words trail off into the wind, watching as the color drained from her eyes.

Lottie Sinnet remained silent for many moments, staring her very indifferent grim reaper in the eyes. She spoke as the billowing of the grass ceased, leaving only a quiet and lonely scene.

"I... Everything kept happening? Does that mean... Does that mean that Liam lived on, thinking I had died? He had thought I was killed in some horrible way?" A certain outrage filled her pupils, yet it seemed different than Ronald had seen it before. He stuided it closely.

It wasn't an emotion burning purely on selfishness. It seemed deeper than that.

"How is that fair!? I don't care about me, or the fact that I didn't get my life, but what about him!? Why did he have to suffer, too!?" Lottie lashed out. She lunged forward, tears streaming from her eyes as if her heart had been torn from her chest.

"He suffered enough! He didn't need me dying on him to add to that! Why do these things always happen to him!? Doesn't he get a break? Doesn't Liam get to smile!? Why is he the one to suffer through the deaths of all those around him!? Why can't it be me!? Why!"

Ronald felt the need to narrow his eyes at her outburst. He stared at her questioningly for a moment, wondering just what job he had been tasked with.

_What is with her? Why does she care about this guy, anyway? He's probably just some ass spewing garbage about sympathy and empathy. How did he catch this beauty? _

He raised an eyebrow at her.

_Perhaps he was the only one able to deal with her sass._

Lottie didn't seem to notice his expression, as she continued with her small outburst.

"All I ever wanted was to see his smile-"

"Calm down, love." Ronald replaced any sour look he had placed on his face with a signature smirk of his. He took a moment to lean back to his scythe. Folding his arms, he spoke to the crying girl.

"God, you whine. You remind me of a pig goin' off to slaughter, Lottie. I'll give you your one day. At sunset, your soul will be reaped, and you will dissolve into the nothing you were always supposed to be in. Of course, I'll be accompanying you on your last day."

Ronald leaned towards her, eyeing his watch.

"You better hurry, Lottie Sinnet. The clock is ticking away on your borrowed time."


End file.
